Believe in your dreams and they
will come true. I always, always, always believed in it and I can testify that
it works!!!
For years and years I dreamt of getting published, commercially. Four
years back, after completing my Post Graduation in Business, I was offered a
job in one of the leading newspaper houses in India. I felt the luckiest person
on earth but when for the first time I set foot in my to-be-office premises, I got
cold feet and in that moment of confusion, I was clear and convinced about one
thing, this was not my dream. I was never so confident in my life about anything.
I made the decision to leave the job (yes on a very first day itself) but I had
no idea what I was going to do. I sat myself at home for couple of months and
practically did nothing. Three months later, I woke up and decided that I was
going to do what I always wanted to do but never thought that I was capable to
do. I decided to write. I remember once telling to my classmates in school that
one day I will be a writer and they laughed it off right there, right then. I had
no idea how and from where this thought had come to my mind but I guess it
always stayed there in some dark corner.
Six months passed and I finished writing
my first full length novel. I sent it to every agent and publisher in the
country and not so long after my mail box started flooding with rejection
letters but in middle of all the rudely and sweetly written rejection letters I
got two specific letters from really good publications and though they had
turned down the manuscript, they loved my writing. It was very difficult for
me to be brave about it but I managed to stay sane enough to make the decision
that I was going to give it a another shot. Few weeks later I once again started writing,
not a full length book but writing samples and started pitching them to newspapers and magazines. Never heard back from them but one day I struck lucky and with the
little help from my friend I got the opportunity to write and edit a
coffee-table book. I know it sounds exciting but trust me it was darn
difficult. Non-fiction never held my interest and it was one big challenge to
accept the offer but I was in no position to turn it down, I desperately wanted
to write. Two years later I had four coffee-table books published but I was
still craving for the commercial success. I took break from writing non-fiction
and magazine articles and sat down to write a brand new, crispy and fluffy novel.
I was excited and scared. It took me four months to finish it and once again I started
to send out the proposals. Rejection letters started to come in. I paused there
and then. I hold back myself from sending out any more proposals and got down
to re-edit the book. During this re-edit phase I deleted 3/4th of
the book. It sent me into “great depression”.
It took me 8 months to haul myself out of the
dark pit and started writing again. I was half way through the book when I came
across the Harlequin India’s announcement for Aspiring Writer Audition. I never
won any competition in my life so I was very hesitant to participate and after
much arguing and self doubt I sent my entry, just in time. Nearly a month later
the result came out and I was nowhere in the winners list. I cried hard, really
hard. BUT few days later my inbox pinged and announced the arrival of an email.
It was from Harlequin India and though they had already announced the (general
fiction) winner, they still wanted to see the rest of my manuscript. I didn’t know
how to react so I sat down with my laptop and started to churn out the words. I
had been given an opportunity of a lifetime and for me it was now and never.
After a month of mailing back and
forth and editing, re-editing, I have been FINALLY offered a publishing contract.
I had felt so depressed and failed for so long that it took me 36 hours to get
my head around the news. Currently the book is going through its (hopefully)
final edit and very soon would be published by Harlequin India in paperback as
well as in digital format.
Swati xxx
P.S: Keep visiting to know about
the book. It’s a book written for a girl from a girl and I hope you will
like it.
